I have to have Linux, I can't work in a Windows environment, but I too have users that require it. I just recently finished a project that I wrote entirely on my Linux box and then dropped on my client's Win98 boxes and it worked almost flawlessly (I actually had to rewrite a couple of functions that used Linux only code so that they would work both places.)
To accomplish this I used Python plus its defacto GUI which is Tkinter (uses the Tk libraries), plus ODBC. I used a Python package called mxODBC.
There is a great Win installer available for Python that will install everything you need on your client machines.
The bottom line is that I expected it to be a painful experience--even though it was "supposed" to work--it worked as advertised and I had very little pain.
I've gotta come to his defense here. As one of the geeks in high-school (almost 20 years ago now) who is now raising a geek (six years old, far advanced over most the other kids, can install Win98 on his own, and it won't be long before he can do Linux).
I have found Mr. Katz to be the voice that I wished for when I was in high-school, and the voice I hope my son and his peers will hear when they are old enough to really understand some of the social interactions that are going on around them.
Geek kids who are picked on because they are smart and like different things than the mainstream need a strident voice arguing there cause. If there is not one, then my son is doomed to face the same problems that I did.
I am one of those who intensely dislikes certifications of any kind. I believe that certifications simply make HR departments lazy. I would rather take the guy with 20 years experience and no certification than the guy with 2 years experience and an MCSE.
I am an RHCE. I got involved with Linux in November, 1998, went to RedHat and was certified in June, 1999. During those months I spent a small fortune on books from O'Reilly, installed several servers and played a heck of a lot.
So, I'm opposed to certification yet I'm certified. I got certified for two reasons. One, we wanted to become a RedHat VAR and we had to have an RHCE on staff to do so. The second reason is that I believe we Linux users are on the frontlines in something of a computing revolution, revolutionaries need things that make them look more credible. In a world that is used to seeing CNEs and MCSEs, an RHCE is a credibility enhancer.
I was a longtime fan of REXX (One of the great benefits that OS/2 provided). When I finally abandoned OS/2 in favour of Windows I needed a new scripting tools and went in search. I couldn't find a free version of REXX for Win, so I looked elsewhere, I had heard about this Perl thing, so spent some time investigating it. It certainly seemed powerful, flexible, and useful.
One day while reading Dr. Dobbs they did a small sidebar on Python and I went and investigated it. It too seemed powerful, flexible and useful, but the thing that really attracted me to it was its readability.
I find well written Perl code to be very readable, but poorly written Perl code is almost unreadable. Python code is almost always readable to me, and even when I don't do the documenting job that I should, I can usually figure out what is going on in code I wrote two years ago. I can't do that with Perl code.
This is a valid point, though not entirely true. IANAL, but I grew up working in law firms, and my first consulting gigs were to lawfirms. I was ostensibly the DP manager, however, I spent a good deal of time working on economic models for plaintiffs in lawsuits.
I eventually got to understand the industry we represented so well that I was able to review most of our complaints, and contribute suggestions, modifications, etc. I never paid attention to the "legal" stuff, but paid much attention to the soundness of the arguments themselves.
So yes, WANL, that doesn't mean we can't contribute to the soundness of the legal arguments.
Just a followup on this. This is phenomenally good advice, unfortunately, it is not always easy to hire experienced business people, especially if you have no funding, however, you can always ask them to sit on either your board of directors, or an ad hoc advisory board.
Geeks and nerds also have a tendency to forget the more mundane aspects of a business (Disclaimer: I'm a geek, and I speak from experience.) Don't forget to either outsource your accounting to someone competent, or hire someone who really knows their way around accounting. There is nothing worse than not knowing what is happening to your money.
Lastly, we tend to like toys. Go easy on the toys and only spend what you really need. Many times it does not matter whether you are profitable or not. What really matters is how much money you have in the bank at anyone time. Profits are nice, but positive cashflow is nicer.
This is both a blessing and a curse. I hated Windows because it insisted on holding my hand when I didn't want my hand held, so, what was the first thing I did when I installed Linux, I ran Linuxconf.
Linuxconf is a phenomenally capable tool. Sure it is rough in spots and annoying in spots and it writes hideous smb.conf files, but it does at least give someone a place to start. The curse part, however, is that I started relying on the tool instead of educating myself as to what was going on underneath the Linuxconf interface. So, I quit using Linuxconf and started doing everything by hand. Now I know what goes on on my systems (the last Linuxconf module I regularly used was the Sendmail module, I recently started using the M4s, and then ran into the arms of Postfix, but that's a different story).
Now, I sometimes use Linuxconf again to do quick and dirty network stuff, but at least I know what Linuxconf is doing!
If we are ever going to reach the "average" users, tools like Linuxconf must succeed and we shouldn't look down on the tools or those who use those tools (and I've seen some of that invective on this thread). Just be glad that as with most things Linux we have a choice!
As an early RHCE (took the test in June), I have to say that in general I am opposed to the entire concept of certification. I believe that it makes HR departments lazy, and is not a good predictor of an employees skill.
That being said, the business owner side of me loves certification. It is a tremendous marketing tool. I'm RH certified because it allows me to have a relationship with RH. I have an MCSE who works for me because it impresses my customers.
The sad thing about this is that my customers are far more impressed by the fact that I have an employee who is an MCSE, and that I am an RHCE, than they are with the fact that I have a non-certified employee who has been working with computers for twenty years.
However, certification is here to stay and I would much rather have a vendor neutral Linux Certification than vendor specific certifications.
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I have to have Linux, I can't work in a Windows environment, but I too have users that require it. I just recently finished a project that I wrote entirely on my Linux box and then dropped on my client's Win98 boxes and it worked almost flawlessly (I actually had to rewrite a couple of functions that used Linux only code so that they would work both places.)
To accomplish this I used Python plus its defacto GUI which is Tkinter (uses the Tk libraries), plus ODBC. I used a Python package called mxODBC.
There is a great Win installer available for Python that will install everything you need on your client machines.
The bottom line is that I expected it to be a painful experience--even though it was "supposed" to work--it worked as advertised and I had very little pain.
Stand Fast,
I've gotta come to his defense here. As one of the geeks in high-school (almost 20 years ago now) who is now raising a geek (six years old, far advanced over most the other kids, can install Win98 on his own, and it won't be long before he can do Linux).
I have found Mr. Katz to be the voice that I wished for when I was in high-school, and the voice I hope my son and his peers will hear when they are old enough to really understand some of the social interactions that are going on around them.
Geek kids who are picked on because they are smart and like different things than the mainstream need a strident voice arguing there cause. If there is not one, then my son is doomed to face the same problems that I did.
Stand Fast,
I am one of those who intensely dislikes certifications of any kind. I believe that certifications simply make HR departments lazy. I would rather take the guy with 20 years experience and no certification than the guy with 2 years experience and an MCSE.
I am an RHCE. I got involved with Linux in November, 1998, went to RedHat and was certified in June, 1999. During those months I spent a small fortune on books from O'Reilly, installed several servers and played a heck of a lot.
So, I'm opposed to certification yet I'm certified. I got certified for two reasons. One, we wanted to become a RedHat VAR and we had to have an RHCE on staff to do so. The second reason is that I believe we Linux users are on the frontlines in something of a computing revolution, revolutionaries need things that make them look more credible. In a world that is used to seeing CNEs and MCSEs, an RHCE is a credibility enhancer.
Stand Fast,
I was a longtime fan of REXX (One of the great benefits that OS/2 provided). When I finally abandoned OS/2 in favour of Windows I needed a new scripting tools and went in search. I couldn't find a free version of REXX for Win, so I looked elsewhere, I had heard about this Perl thing, so spent some time investigating it. It certainly seemed powerful, flexible, and useful.
One day while reading Dr. Dobbs they did a small sidebar on Python and I went and investigated it. It too seemed powerful, flexible and useful, but the thing that really attracted me to it was its readability.
I find well written Perl code to be very readable, but poorly written Perl code is almost unreadable. Python code is almost always readable to me, and even when I don't do the documenting job that I should, I can usually figure out what is going on in code I wrote two years ago. I can't do that with Perl code.
Stand Fast,
This is a valid point, though not entirely true. IANAL, but I grew up working in law firms, and my first consulting gigs were to lawfirms. I was ostensibly the DP manager, however, I spent a good deal of time working on economic models for plaintiffs in lawsuits.
I eventually got to understand the industry we represented so well that I was able to review most of our complaints, and contribute suggestions, modifications, etc. I never paid attention to the "legal" stuff, but paid much attention to the soundness of the arguments themselves.
So yes, WANL, that doesn't mean we can't contribute to the soundness of the legal arguments.
Stand Fast,
Just a followup on this. This is phenomenally good advice, unfortunately, it is not always easy to hire experienced business people, especially if you have no funding, however, you can always ask them to sit on either your board of directors, or an ad hoc advisory board.
Geeks and nerds also have a tendency to forget the more mundane aspects of a business (Disclaimer: I'm a geek, and I speak from experience.) Don't forget to either outsource your accounting to someone competent, or hire someone who really knows their way around accounting. There is nothing worse than not knowing what is happening to your money.
Lastly, we tend to like toys. Go easy on the toys and only spend what you really need. Many times it does not matter whether you are profitable or not. What really matters is how much money you have in the bank at anyone time. Profits are nice, but positive cashflow is nicer.
Stand Fast,
This is both a blessing and a curse. I hated Windows because it insisted on holding my hand when I didn't want my hand held, so, what was the first thing I did when I installed Linux, I ran Linuxconf.
Linuxconf is a phenomenally capable tool. Sure it is rough in spots and annoying in spots and it writes hideous smb.conf files, but it does at least give someone a place to start. The curse part, however, is that I started relying on the tool instead of educating myself as to what was going on underneath the Linuxconf interface. So, I quit using Linuxconf and started doing everything by hand. Now I know what goes on on my systems (the last Linuxconf module I regularly used was the Sendmail module, I recently started using the M4s, and then ran into the arms of Postfix, but that's a different story).
Now, I sometimes use Linuxconf again to do quick and dirty network stuff, but at least I know what Linuxconf is doing!
If we are ever going to reach the "average" users, tools like Linuxconf must succeed and we shouldn't look down on the tools or those who use those tools (and I've seen some of that invective on this thread). Just be glad that as with most things Linux we have a choice!
Stand Fast,
As an early RHCE (took the test in June), I have to say that in general I am opposed to the entire concept of certification. I believe that it makes HR departments lazy, and is not a good predictor of an employees skill.
That being said, the business owner side of me loves certification. It is a tremendous marketing tool. I'm RH certified because it allows me to have a relationship with RH. I have an MCSE who works for me because it impresses my customers.
The sad thing about this is that my customers are far more impressed by the fact that I have an employee who is an MCSE, and that I am an RHCE, than they are with the fact that I have a non-certified employee who has been working with computers for twenty years.
However, certification is here to stay and I would much rather have a vendor neutral Linux Certification than vendor specific certifications.
Stand Fast,